In the manufacture of glassware in a conventional individual section machine, a gob of molten glass is first formed into a parison in a blank mould at a blank station and the parison is transferred directly from the blank station to a shaping station where the parison is shaped into an article of glassware. During the manufacture of glassware in such a machine, an operator observes the glassware being produced and, when he notices any interruption to the production of glassware, he takes action to affect an emergency stop of the machine. During such an emergency stop, the feeding of further gobs of molten glass to the blank station is prevented and the machine is completely stopped. However, if the operator is not immediately aware of an interruption to production, the machine will continue to operate with further gobs being fed to it. Glass thus accumulates within the machine. While the glass is hot it can damage the operating parts of the machine by causing them to become excessively hot and, when the glass cools and hardens, damage can be done to the machine as the operating parts attempt to operate against the hard glass.
Whether the operator is immediately aware of an interruption to production or not, the conventional individual section machine must be brought to a complete halt for remedial action to be undertaken. When the manufacture of glassware is recommenced in that type of machine, there is a considerable delay before commercial articles of glassware are again produced because of the time necessary to bring the moulding equipment at both stations to the appropriate operating temperatures for production of glassware.
It has been proposed (see U.K. Patent Specification No. 1,491,859) to provide a modified form of the individual section glassware forming machine having three stations. A blank station at which a parison is formed, an intermediate reheating station where reheating of the parison takes place, and a shaping station at which shaping of the article of glassware from the parison takes place.